Gazans suffering the same after offensive ends

This is from Xinhua.

Israel is still not opening the border crossings. Naturally this is just further punishment of all Gazans not just members of Hamas. It would be best for Palestinians if Hamas and Fatah were able to reconcile but Abbas is so compromised in terms of his relations with Israel from the Hamas viewpoint it is difficult for the two groups to set aside their differences. From Israel's point of view this is probably just fine!


News analysis: Gazans suffering the same after offensive ends



by Saud Abu Ramadan
GAZA, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Apparently, after the Israeli military offensive on Gaza Strip ended on Jan. 18, where about 1,400 people were killed in addition to thousands of houses, buildings and infrastructures destroyed, this won't be the last chapter in the suffering of 1.5 million people living in the enclave.
After the Israeli war on Gaza was over, the Gazans, that 70 percent of them are refugees, found themselves getting back to live again under the same difficult conditions that existed before the Israeli military assault on the Hamas-ruled enclave.
Observers said that Israel has not only kept the blockade imposed on Gaza, but also tightened it amid a shaky ceasefire agreement. Gaza militants resumed rocket attacks on Israel, and Israeli leaders again threatened to launch a tougher assault on Hamas movement and Gaza militant groups.
Despair has been growing up among the population as Hamas politicians, who held truce talks in Cairo last week, conditioned reaching a ceasefire agreement with reopening Gaza Strip border crossings with Israel, and in particular Rafah border crossing between Gaza Strip and Egypt.
Meanwhile, Egypt links the reopening of Rafah crossing, the only gate of Gaza Strip to the outside world, with inter-Palestinian reconciliation, mainly between Hamas which rules the enclave and moderate president Mahmoud Abbas who rules the West Bank.
Israel is also imposing conditions for the truce, saying that it won't reopen Gaza Strip crossings until a deal is reached to free captive Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit, who has been in captivity since June 2006.
"The current stances and conditions of Israel, Egypt and Hamas, which haven't been resolved yet, would make the situation more complicated and would lead to more security and humanitarian deterioration," said Talal Oukal, a 56-year-old a Gaza political analyst.
He said that as Gaza militants continue firing homemade rockets at Israel, while Israel is warning round the clock to carry out more painful and tough assaults, "the poor civilians, who are not involved in this conflict, are paying the heaviest prices."
Gaza residents believe that the Israeli threats to strike again on Hamas, are not real and do not really mean that Israel really wants to smash Hamas power, but to kill more innocent women and children, exactly like what happened during the 22-day assault.
Hamas movement and its armed wing leaders said during and after the Israeli offensive that Israel had failed to break Hamas and the armed Palestinian resistance, where they considered the Israeli war on Gaza, in spite of the great losses among the civilians, as "a great victory."
If Israel would carry out another large-scale assault on the Islamic movement, observers believe that Hamas had no address now after Israel destroyed all its buildings, offices and security installations. They believe that the next war would target more civilians.
Since the end of the Israeli assault on Jan. 18, Egypt has been holding intensive contacts with Israel, Hamas and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in a bid to reach agreements on the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, end the blockade, reopen Gaza crossings and achieve a reconciliation between Hamas and Abbas.
"So far, nothing is clear that any of these complicated issues had been resolved," said Oukal.
He added that the contrary is happening, "everyday we hear statements and reports from different leaders imposing new conditions, and sometimes rejecting or discussing them, while this would take longer time and increase the population's suffering."
While Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak threats to strike again on Hamas in Gaza, he makes other contradictory statements that the possibility of reaching a long-term ceasefire "is more possible today than before."
He added that "because Hamas was severely struck during the Cast Lead operation and became a destroyed shocked movement. Hamas leaders mocked Barak's statements and said "Hamas won the war, and will won any coming war that Israel would wage again."
Hamas deputy chief in exile Musa Abu Marzooq said in a statement that "Cairo talks hadn't led to anything new concerning the truce," adding "it would be very difficult to reach a truce without opening all Gaza border crossings."
"So far the movement's demands to reopen Gaza crossings with Israel and Rafah crossing with Egypt haven't been achieved yet," said Abu Marzooq.
The Gazans said they really don't know when their suffering will end amid such complications and difficulties to reach an immediate solution, adding "if the situation continues like this, it is better to leave this homeland and look for another safe and secure homeland."